not impressed with nvidia linux support

andy · 02-03-04, 03:25 AM

I just downloaded the latest nvidia driver for my linux machine (2.4.22 kernel, 1.3 GHz chip, AGP Riva THT2 M64 card.) There are a few problems with it that are going to make me think twice before buying nvidia cards in the future:
- the driver installs a kernel module that is 2.2M on the disk, and 1.9M when loaded, and an XF86 driver that is over 500Kbytes. This is bloatware to the extreme.
- the new driver will not do multiple X sessions on the same card - it exits saying 'failed to allocate external decoder object'. This is a sometimes useful feature of X which a well written driver should support.
- as far as i know, nvidia don't release proper specifications for their cards to the free software community so that open source drivers can be written.

LordMorgul · 02-03-04, 04:41 AM

Why are you using the latest driver release with a tnt card, there has been nothing in release notes regarding a tnt card for awhile that I've seen.

Your second point may be correct with a tnt, but the driver does support multiples X screens and multiple X servers on the same card with geforce chipsets, on the 2 ultra, 4, and fx (these are the only cards I've tested).

SuLinUX · 02-03-04, 01:00 PM

Why would you want to use the nvidia driver with your TNT M64 anyway?, if you were to upgrade I think you'll find that the driver supports newer cards better.

How you can call the nvidia driver is beyond me.

andy · 02-03-04, 02:38 PM

i'm using the nvidia driver because
- it's an nvidia card, and i thought it might help.
- the (much smaller) one that comes with XFree86 seemed to be causing system lockups associated with X. (e.g. total lockup when i ctrl-alt-backspace).

i might be able to get it working better by using an older driver. it's just annoying that they only release one driver for all the cards, which i'm assuming is why the driver is so big - because it has to cope with all the different models, including ones that have more features than mine. I would have thought there were better ways of protecting their code and simplifying distribution than releasing a single binary driver, like maybe have the installer contain images of a set of libraries which are only linked in for cards that need them?

02-03-04, 03:25 AM	#1
andy Registered User Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2	not impressed with nvidia linux support I just downloaded the latest nvidia driver for my linux machine (2.4.22 kernel, 1.3 GHz chip, AGP Riva THT2 M64 card.) There are a few problems with it that are going to make me think twice before buying nvidia cards in the future: - the driver installs a kernel module that is 2.2M on the disk, and 1.9M when loaded, and an XF86 driver that is over 500Kbytes. This is bloatware to the extreme. - the new driver will not do multiple X sessions on the same card - it exits saying 'failed to allocate external decoder object'. This is a sometimes useful feature of X which a well written driver should support. - as far as i know, nvidia don't release proper specifications for their cards to the free software community so that open source drivers can be written.

02-03-04, 04:41 AM	#2
LordMorgul Electrical Engineer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: San Luis Obispo, CA Posts: 872	Why are you using the latest driver release with a tnt card, there has been nothing in release notes regarding a tnt card for awhile that I've seen. Your second point may be correct with a tnt, but the driver does support multiples X screens and multiple X servers on the same card with geforce chipsets, on the 2 ultra, 4, and fx (these are the only cards I've tested). __________________ "..the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." (Edmond Burke) nVIDIA video driver RPMs for Fedora :: see yum repo at livna.org.

02-03-04, 01:00 PM	#3
SuLinUX Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: UK Posts: 847	Why would you want to use the nvidia driver with your TNT M64 anyway?, if you were to upgrade I think you'll find that the driver supports newer cards better. How you can call the nvidia driver is beyond me. __________________ AthlonXP 2600+ / nForce2 Asus A7N8X-X / PNY GeForce FX5900 Ultra / 1024Mb Samsung Ram /nForce Sound / Hansol 920D Plus 19" monitor / Lite-On 32x12x40 / 2x Maxtor HD 40Gb/80Gb / nVidia 7174 driver / Gnome 2.10.1 / Kernel 2.6.11.9 / Slackware 10.0

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02-03-04, 02:38 PM	#4
andy Registered User Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2	i'm using the nvidia driver because - it's an nvidia card, and i thought it might help. - the (much smaller) one that comes with XFree86 seemed to be causing system lockups associated with X. (e.g. total lockup when i ctrl-alt-backspace). i might be able to get it working better by using an older driver. it's just annoying that they only release one driver for all the cards, which i'm assuming is why the driver is so big - because it has to cope with all the different models, including ones that have more features than mine. I would have thought there were better ways of protecting their code and simplifying distribution than releasing a single binary driver, like maybe have the installer contain images of a set of libraries which are only linked in for cards that need them?